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As flu season gets underway, some Marylanders are wondering whether to get the flu shot and the new COVID-19 booster shot at the same time.|| COVID-19 updates | Maryland’s latest numbers | Get tested | Vaccine Info ||The Maryland Hospital Association is encouraging everyone who is eligible to get the COVID-19 booster shot as soon as possible. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people can get both a COVID-19 booster shot and the flu shot at the same time. But should you?Dr. Miriam Alexander, with Sinai Hospital, said there’s no evidence there’s a risk to getting the shots at the same time.”It’s totally acceptable to get the booster shot and the flu shot at the same time, if that’s what you’d like, or you can separate them. Either one is just fine,” Alexander said.Doctors say Marylanders should not hesitate to get the new bivalent COVID-19 booster shot.Video below: What’s the difference with the new COVID-19 booster shots?”That gives you the immunity to the two most common strains that are circulating,” Alexander said. “There will be an uptick in COVID this fall because we are all going into indoor environments, and we’re closer to one another.”Doctors said the updated COVID-19 booster vaccine better protects against the subvariants omicron BA.4 and BA.5. The BA.5 variant currently makes up almost 90% of all COVID-19 strains in circulation.Alexander said children 12 and older are eligible for the new COVID-19 booster.| RELATED: Should you get a new COVID-19 booster? If so, when?And, while the flu shot is currently widely available, people might not want to wait.”Typically, the best time to get the flu shot is sometime in October because the flu shot does lose some of its potency in the early spring, and we want you to be protected against the flu still in February and early March when we know we still have flu,” Alexander said. “We think there may be an uptick in flu this year.”As of Wednesday, Maryland hospitals were treating 445 COVID-19 inpatients, and Maryland is still reporting an average of 1,000 confirmed new cases daily.Marylanders can find a vaccine provider and make an appointment at covidvax.maryland.gov or call 1-855-MDGOVAX. Video below: Cold, flu, or COVID? How to distinguish the symptoms?
As flu season gets underway, some Marylanders are wondering whether to get the flu shot and the new COVID-19 booster shot at the same time.
|| COVID-19 updates | Maryland’s latest numbers | Get tested | Vaccine Info ||
The Maryland Hospital Association is encouraging everyone who is eligible to get the COVID-19 booster shot as soon as possible. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people can get both a COVID-19 booster shot and the flu shot at the same time. But should you?
Dr. Miriam Alexander, with Sinai Hospital, said there’s no evidence there’s a risk to getting the shots at the same time.
“It’s totally acceptable to get the booster shot and the flu shot at the same time, if that’s what you’d like, or you can separate them. Either one is just fine,” Alexander said.
Doctors say Marylanders should not hesitate to get the new bivalent COVID-19 booster shot.
Video below: What’s the difference with the new COVID-19 booster shots?
“That gives you the immunity to the two most common strains that are circulating,” Alexander said. “There will be an uptick in COVID this fall because we are all going into indoor environments, and we’re closer to one another.”
Doctors said the updated COVID-19 booster vaccine better protects against the subvariants omicron BA.4 and BA.5. The BA.5 variant currently makes up almost 90% of all COVID-19 strains in circulation.
Alexander said children 12 and older are eligible for the new COVID-19 booster.
| RELATED: Should you get a new COVID-19 booster? If so, when?
And, while the flu shot is currently widely available, people might not want to wait.
“Typically, the best time to get the flu shot is sometime in October because the flu shot does lose some of its potency in the early spring, and we want you to be protected against the flu still in February and early March when we know we still have flu,” Alexander said. “We think there may be an uptick in flu this year.”
As of Wednesday, Maryland hospitals were treating 445 COVID-19 inpatients, and Maryland is still reporting an average of 1,000 confirmed new cases daily.
Marylanders can find a vaccine provider and make an appointment at covidvax.maryland.gov or call 1-855-MDGOVAX.
Video below: Cold, flu, or COVID? How to distinguish the symptoms?
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